And I thought it was a bit inconvenient to convert between grams and pounds, Celsius and Fahrenheit... How wrong I was. I could actually have been stuck with scrupulls,oboluis and drams, too. Well, to celebrate that the weekend is almost here, I just had a pugill of dark chocolate raisins. Cheers!

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From 'Directions for the Gardiner and other Horticultural Advice' by John Evelyn (1620-1707), edited by Maggie Campbell-Culver and published in 2009. This books is fantastic reading with practical gardening advice from the 17th century. It contains detailed instructions for cultivating and tending perennials, annuals, root vegetables and trees, and explainations of horticultural terminology, advice on tools and many other delicious things for real garden people. Highly recommended!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Orange Beauty' in full bloom at the Witt Winter Garden.*

The witch-hazels are out again, spreading their spicy honey-scent around in the winter-wet gardens of Seattle. Two years ago, I wrote about witch-hazels and other midwinter wonders in the Witt Winter Garden at the Washington Arboretum, and yesterday, I decided to check out how they were doing this year. Wonderfully, as my pictures can tell.

I'd always thought that the name 'witch-hazel' had something to do with the plant's many medicinal qualities - it has been traditionally used as an astringent and to prevent hemorrhages - but Vita Sackville-West tells otherwise in her Garden book. She writes that the early settlers of North America took the characteristically forked twigs of the native Hamamelis virginiana and used them for water-divining, as they had used hazel-twigs back in England. The plant got its name from this as any twig that would twitch in the hand had something to do with a witch or a wizard in the old days, at least according to Vita.

*A Hamamelis x intermedia cultivar with a bit darker orange ribbons... it looks a lot like 'Jelena', but I couldn't find a name tag to confirm my thoughts.

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Besides the three native North American species, Hamamelis virginiana, H. ovalis och H. vernalis, the most beautiful witch-hazels come from China and Japan, as so many other distinct garden plants. Hamamelis x intermedia, a hybrid of Chinese H. mollis and Japanese H. japonica, has produced many garden-worthy species. Their flowers are like tiny fireworks, cascades of them exploding with both colour and scent from the twisted branches. As a picked flowers, witch-hazels are long-lasting and capable of filling a whole room with their fresh, spicy scent.

Sometimes I entertain myself by making mental lists of plants that I would like to have in my garden in Saltsjöbaden. Witch-hazel always comes up there within the top ten or twenty, and luckily, there are several cultivars I could plant even in the cold climate of Sweden. As Vita says, they are tough and will grow in any soil and any aspect, though the better they are treated, the better they will do (she adds that this applies to most people too...). I think a little grove of them would make cheery sight together with the thousands of snowdrops that already thrive under the big oaks, brightening up dreary mid-winter days. As it seems now, I still have some time to decide which cultivar to choose from the all tempting alternatives...

I think I'll go for the 'Orange Beauty' - its lucious, citrusy colour scheme can truly chase away the gloom on a dark winter day.*

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Driving through the sprawling suburbs on the highway towards the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne, one would never guess that a pair of modest wooden gates, opening directly from the freeway, leads to one of the most iconic gardens of Australia. Behind the gates, followed by a magnificent driveway of lemon-scented gums, lies Cruden Farm, home and country garden of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, the widow of Australian media publisher Keith Murdoch and a great philanthropist, whose generous and passionate involvement in arts, medicine, research and many social causes has made a positive difference in the lives of countless Australians.

*'Ibis' by Phil Price, a 100th birthday present to Dame Elisabeth from her family.

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Long before this first visit to Cruden Farm, I'd seen pictures from it garden books and publications, but had always been unable to travel when it was open to the public. This time, due to some very fortunate interference, my family got a tour of the gardens. And not just an ordinary one, but a ride on Dame Elisabeth's electric garden buggy together with Michael Morrison, who has gardened at Cruden Farm together with Dame Elisabeth for four decades. Michael told us about the trees and plants and the developments of the garden, pointed out Dame Elisabeth's favorite views and picked even roses named after Dame Elisabeth to both of our girls. His knowledge and love for the garden made the tour a memorable highlight of our Australian trip.

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Above: Copper beech, FagussylvaticaPurpurea group forms a background for one flower border. Below: The stables were the centre of action in the 1930s and 40s.*

Cruden Farm had very romantic beginnings: it was given by Keith Murdoch as a wedding present to his young bride in 1928. Elisabeth loved her small farm and tended the garden from its earliest days. For decades, the farm provided a paradise for the growing family that gathered here for horse riding, fishing and entertaining during the weekends.*

The walled garden designed by Edna Walling in 1931 with sumptuous perennial borders.*

In 1931, Australia's then leading garden designer Edna Walling was commissioned to work on the areas nearest to the house. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts style, Ms. Walling's design included two walled gardens and a magnificent entrance driveway lined with lemon-scented gumtrees, leading to a circular lawn planted with three now large huge elm trees in front of the house. Sadly, the roses in one of the walled gardens never thrived in the sharp Australian sun that was additionally reflected by the thick brick walls, so eventually they had to be removed to another area. But the perennial borders of the second part of the walled garden, a project of continuous co-operation by Dame Elisabeth and Michael Morrison, were thriving luxuriously, their colour scheme offering a cool visual relief from the heat.*

Above: Shade provided by the now mature trees. Below: The glossy leaves of a huge Macedon oak, Querqus 'Firthii', listed on the register of significant trees in Victoria, Australia.

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In 1944, a devastating bushfire raged through the property and lead to new developments in the garden and farm on totally 54 hectares. Many of them have been related to water, always in scarce supply during the hot summers and especially during times of drought, of which the latest that just broke lasted for 12 years. Mains water was connected in 1975, which allowed the garden to be watered for the first time - until then, Dame Elisabeth had pumped the water and shifted the hoses herself at dawn or on dusk. In late 1980s, two dams behind the house were extended to form the beautiful large lake in the second picture, offering both water storage and making a perfect refuge for wildlife. In the late 1990s, another lagoon was created to secure water supply for the gardens.

In 2009, Dame Elisabeth celebrated her 100th birthday. Determinately, she continues to work with Michael, always thinking of new ways to revise and improve what to most of gardeners already looks like a picture of perfection. 'One must always replenish for the future in a garden', as Dame Elisabeth says, now well into her ninth decade of gardening at Cruden Farm.

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Cruden Farm is private and visits can be done by prior appointment or on one of its open days.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Just found these little ones under a Japanese maple in my garden. Still sleepy, not quite ready to show off all their frilly petticoats. How I love their nodding heads, peeking up from the moist soil like dainty drops of flawless perfection...*

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The fernery, or the 'Grand Shade House' at Rippon Lea, is home to over 230 species of ferns.*

Coincidentally, the latest issue of the Garden Design magazine that dropped down two days ago in the mailbox was titled "The New Victorian Age". It was full of Victoriana and pteridomania (which translates to fern craze or fever), two tightly related subjects, and contained some remarkably beautiful, overexposed pictures of ferns by Bryan Whitney on its pages. Ferns have been a stable in gardens and as indoor plants since the Victorian times, but it seems that there is a renewed fever in the air, ferns popping up again in interior design, on sheets, prints and other decorative elements. And considering the many articles and garden books about the Victorian age that have been published lately, maybe there is something to the magazine's claim of the Victorian period's 'second coming'... we'll see.

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The shady verandas and terraces leading to the gardens; my girls are having a rest from the heat in the white garden chairs...

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All this focus on Victoriana ties nicely together with my recent visit to Rippon Lea in the suburb of Elsternwick in Melbourne. Rippon Lea is a national treasure that has since 2006 been included in Australia's top heritage listing. It is the last of the great privately owned 19th century suburban estates to survive largely intact in Australia. Built and developed between 1868 and 1903 by leading Melbourne businessman and politician Frederick Thomas Sargood, the house was designed in Romanesque style by Joseph Reed, then one of the most prominent architects in Melbourne. *

*The lake, with ornamental cast iron bridges - cast iron was another Victorian invention and favorite - leading from one side to the other.* *

Although the surrounding suburbia has crept closer and the Rippon Lea gardens now are reduced from their original size, they still are of international significance as an excellent example of Victorian garden making. The last owners of the Rippon Lea, Benjamin Nathan and his daughter Louisa Jones, preserved the gardens relatively intact, and they still retain many features from the times of Frederick Sargood: a lake, a mound and grotto, extensive lawns, a huge fernery, a conservatory and a serpentine carriageway. To sustain his extensive gardens through the hot Melbournian summers, Sargood designed a sophisticated underground irrigation system that was driven by a wind-mill that still exists on the grounds.

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The conservatory and a view from the fernery, constructed of cast iron arches supported by cast iron pillars, and covered with wooden slats.*

How ferns reproduce was not properly understood until the 1830s. Once the mystery was solved (by accident in London) and nurseries could start propagating them, a fern craze swept over Great Britain and spread over to its colonies. A fernery became an essential element of large Victorian gardens, and as a passionate garden person, Frederick Sargood built in 1884 a 'Grand Shade House', a huge fernery imitating an Australian gully, to house his collection of more than 230 species from all around the world, including huge specimens of Australian tree ferns.

*The shady, serpentine drive way, overhang with Moreton Bay figs. *

The day of our visit was hot, up to 38 degrees C (100 degrees F), so the long, winding driveway overhang with huge Moreton Bay figs (Ficus macrophylla) provided a longed-for, shady welcome to the estate of Rippon Lea. But even more welcome was the coolness of the Great Shade House where we lingered for a long time admiring its lush verdant inhabitants, their fronds filling the air like huge lacy tentacles, hanging from the walls and covering the ground with their intricate, leathery leaves. I could completely understand the Victorians' infatuation with ferns and ferneries, and thought I would be more than delighted with their revival - just like we have experienced the renaissance of stumperies, another Victorian folly, during the last decade. So new Victorians - what comes to ferneries, I guess you can count me in!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Soft tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica, in their natural environment in the Otways National Park.

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Divided by the immense Pacific ocean, one could think that there's not much that connects the deep, coniferous forests of Northwest America with the Eucalyptus-scented southeastern shores of Australia. Looking closer, you find they they actually share a living link: both areas are home for some of the few remaining cool temperate rain forests in the world. A bit warmer and drier than Olympic National Park, its North American cousin, the Otways National Park in Victoria, Australia, still nurtures some of the oldest plant species of the world, dating from the ancient times of the Gondwanaland that included most of the landmasses of the southern hemisphere - Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Arabia and most of the Indian subcontinent.

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An old myrtle beech with its clouds of glossy small leaves leaning over towards the moist gully.

*One of the Gondwanaland species that still survives in the moist, loamy gullies of the Otways is the myrtle beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii). It predates the more fire-resistant eucalypts, banksias and acacias, and unlike them, it has never adapted to bush fires that kill both the plants and their seeds. These slow growing, magnificent trees with clouds of tiny, glossy leaves can live up to 300 years, sometimes reaching the staggering height of 110 feet.

The Otways is also home for several species of eucalypts; especially the messmates. The origin of this funny name is uncertain - a messmate means someone you share meals in a military kitchen with - but my (quite unseriously meant) theory is that the new settlers just thought these 'mates' that shed their bark all year around were especially messy. Two species, the Eucalyptus obliqua and E. regnans, are especially common, and there is even a third species, the Otways messmate, which is a hybrid of both (E. obliqua-regnans). Even these trees reach great hights in this area; just before we visited during Christmas week, a huge Otways messmate measuring 88 feet around the base had fallen down in the Melba Gully area, taking down numerous surrounding young trees and tree ferns with it.

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One of the many waterfalls cutting through the sandstone in the Otways area.

Given the high rainfall in the Otways, many creeks ripple through the gullies, sometimes carving their way through the porous sandstone, forming dramatic waterfalls that fill the air with their soft moist. Numerous small mosses and ferns cling to the dank stonewalls, providing excellent hiding places for tiny tree frogs and other amphibians and insects. Despite their tiny size, the frogs call out to their mates with an amazing volume, sometimes even managing to drown the sound of the waterfalls.

The cinnamon-brown, wiry pelt of the soft tree fern provides a perfect home for another, tiny fern species.

Another prehistoric plant in the Otways is the tree fern, of which two species, the soft tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica), and the rough tree fern (Cyanthea australis) are the two most common. Once food of the dinosaurs, this beautiful, almost regal plant became highest horticultural fashion during the Victorian fern craze, from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, and has been newly popular since the 1990s. The two species can easily be recognized by their trunks; the soft tree ferns is like wiry pelt of a mammoth, whereas the rough tree ferns is more like a scaly reptile. Tree ferns are quite hardy, up to -10 degrees C/ 10 degrees F. They grow slowly, about 30cm/ 1 feet every ten years, so large specimens are expensive to buy, but at the same time, they make an architectural statement even in the smallest of gardens with their gracefully arching, lush green fronds.

A huge, old eucalypt covered in kangaroo ferns, Microsorum pustulatum.*

The Otways share a long history of logging with the Olympic National Park since the new settlers arrived in both areas in the mid 1800s. The surviving pockets of old-growth forest with their huge trees are effective reminders of the time it takes to produce such majestics giants; also, they demonstrate clearly we should be aware of the consequences of our often thoughtless actions leading only to short-term economic benefits. Luckily, both areas are now protected as national parks for the coming generations.

*As I tampled on the muddy paths covered with eucalypt bark and listening to the tree frogs and kookaburras, it was hard to imagine that the area had just emerged from a decade-long drought. Navigating back to the starting point through the dense understory of tree ferns, I could only hope that the Otways will survive even the next huge challenge of the impending climate change.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Back home; we had a fantastic time 'Down Under', but now my body seems a bit reluctant to adjust to the climes and times of the northern hemisphere. For the moment, I'm sorting out my bountiful harvest of 1265 (!) photos, all taken under those two wonderful weeks. This one shows exactly how I've been feeling the last couple of days (well, I'm not exactly breaking down, just deadly tired from the long trip...), but then, I guess there's always a price to pay for having such fun. Anyway, I'll be back soon with some wonderful stuff to share with you, maybe even a bit later today evening. Until then, have a great weekend.

About me...

The name "Intercontinental Gardener" was originally a joke but I'm certainly living up to it. Born in Finland, I've lived in six countries on four continents - so far... I grew my first garden in Melbourne/Australia, second in Saltsjöbaden/Sweden and third in Seattle/Washington.
I moved from Seattle to Singapore in July 2012 and I'm very excited to be able to explore gardens and plants in this part of the world. Welcome! Liisa.